The Institution for the Indigent Blind is situated in Magdalen Street. The establishment is devoted to two objects—a hospital for the aged blind, and a school for the instruction of blind children, who are taught the manufacture of baskets, mats, and other articles, by which they may obtain a livelihood. These may be purchased in a shop adjoining the institution.
Doughty’s Hospital, in Calvert Street, was founded in 1687, by William Doughty, who bequeathed £6000 for building and endowing it, for 24 poor men and 8 poor women, of the age of 60. Since its foundation, the hospital has been augmented by several benefactions. It is a square building of almshouses, with a garden in the centre. Each inmate has a tenement of one room for his or her own use, and there is one of two rooms, the residence of the master. There is now accommodation for 28 men and 16 women, who each receive 5s. 6d. per week, and the master 11s. per week. Each has also a supply of coals, and a suit of purple clothing annually, with other advantages.
The Cathedral is one of the chief ornaments of the city, and is a very fine edifice, principally in the Norman style of architecture. It has a nave and choir, with aisles, transept, several small chapels, chapterhouse, and cloisters. These, with the Bishop’s Palace and the Deanery, constitute a great mass of ecclesiastical buildings. The Cathedral is 407 feet long, and the breadth across the transept 178 feet, and across the nave and aisles 72 feet. The cloisters form a square of 174 feet, inner dimensions. The large west window is composed of elegant perpendicular tracery, and contains some elegant stained glass, inserted as a memorial of the late Bishop Stanley. On the south side of the nave, between the sixth and seventh pillars, is the tomb of Chancellor Spenser, upon which, in accordance with the leases, the dean and chapter formerly demanded the payment of their rents; and between the next pillars stands the tomb of Bishop Nix, a violent persecutor of the Reformers, who erected the roof of the transepts. He suffered a long imprisonment for aiding the cause of the pope against Henry VIII. The space which this tomb occupies, as well as that between the two next pillars to the west, was formerly enclosed as a chapel, the roof of which is remaining, displaying obtuse arches inserted between the Norman piers; the vaulting, which is rich, is considered a good specimen of the latest florid style. On the west side of the ninth pier, on the same side, is the tomb of Bishop Parkhurst, the eminent lexicographer, a very excellent prelate, and a great promoter of the reformed religion. In the ninth arch of the south wall is a monument to Dean Gardiner. Opposite, on the east side of the ninth pier, is the tomb of Sir James Hobart, attorney-general to Henry VII. A chapel was formerly enclosed here, which belonged to the Hobart family. In the centre of the nave will be observed a chaste marble slab, which covers the remains of the late highly-esteemed Bishop Stanley. The Bishop’s Palace is partly Norman. It has a grand hall and a large chapel. The Deanery and Prebendal Houses are the remains of the Priory. Among the cathedral appurtenances are three ancient gates of remarkable structure—the Erpingham gate, St. Ethelbert’s gate, and St. Martin’s Palace gate. The Cathedral precincts form a peculiar jurisdiction of the Dean and Chapter, who appoint a coroner and ecclesiastical judges and officers. The Bishop has the remarkable privilege of being the only abbot in England, being Bishop of Norwich and Abbot of St. Bennet’s-at-Holm.
The Free Grammar School is situated near the western door of the Cathedral, and was originally a chapel dedicated to St. John. It was erected about 1315, by Bishop Salmon, lord chancellor, who endowed it with four priests, one of whom was to sing mass for his soul, those of his parents, and of all his predecessors and successors. The portico, which is singular in construction, was built by Bishop Lyhart in 1463. The buttresses at each end of the south side are especially worthy notice; they are ornamented with rich columns representing the trunks of trees, from the tops of which spring imitations of branches. In this grammar school, in addition to many eminent scholars, were educated the celebrated Hero of the Nile and Trafalgar, Lord Viscount Nelson, and Sir James Brooke, the Rajah of Sarrawak. The celebrated Dr. Valpy was once head master.
PARISH CHURCHES.
‘All Saints’, situated at the east end of Westlegate Street, is a small structure, with a square tower, and three bells. The font is very ancient, and curiously carved with figures of the Twelve Apostles, St. Michael and the Dragon, &c. The living is a rectory, in the gift of Mrs. Sculthorpe. Rev. Thomas Gurney, M.A., is the rector.
St. Andrew’s “Broad Street,” to which it gives name, is esteemed the finest parochial church in the city, excepting that of St. Peter’s Mancroft. The tower, which has ten bells and a clock, was rebuilt in 1478, and the nave and chancel in 1506. The interior is neatly pewed, contains a good organ erected in 1808, and several handsome monuments. At the end of the north aisle is a sumptuous monument, with recumbent effigies of Sir John Suckling and his lady. To the altar belongs a handsome and costly set of plate, of which two noble flagons, weighing nearly 60 ounces each, were given by L. Goodwin, Esq., in 1704. The church of St. Christopher, which stood in this vicinity, was burnt down in the reign of Henry VIII., and its parish united with St. Andrew’s. The parishioners are the patrons. Rev. J. Brown is the incumbent.
St. Augustine’s, situated in St. Augustine’s Street, is an unpresuming edifice with a square tower, containing a clock and three bells. The tower and porch were partly rebuilt of red brick in 1726. The living is a rectory in the gift of the dean and chapter. Rev. M. J. Rackham is the incumbent.
St. Benedict’s, Upper Westwick Street, is a small structure, with a tower, round at the base and octangular above. The patronage is in the gift of the parishioners. Rev. W. Goodwin, incumbent.
St. Clement’s, Colegate Street, is one of the most ancient churches in the city. The venerable structure consists of a nave and chancel, and has a square tower, in which are three bells. It was thoroughly repaired in 1845, at a cost of £430. In the churchyard is the “Leper’s Tomb,” which, tradition says, was raised over the remains of a leper, who, being permitted burial here, bequeathed his lands to the church: but Blomfield discredits this legend, and conjectures that the leper died in the lazar house, without St. Augustine’s gate, which entitled him to burial here, that building being in one of the detached parts of this parish. The living is a rectory in the gift of Caius College, Cambridge. Rev. R. Rigg is the rector.